Not a Normal Drift
by Brace Yourself Red
Summary: While in Alaska, Laura finds herself helping a pilot from his nearly destroyed Jaeger. They have an immediate bond and she knows she has to help him. When he leaves she wants to find him again so she joins the Academy to become a pilot, figuring he'd come back eventually. And he does. The plot is close to original movie's, don't read if you don't like. Raleigh/OC. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, so I saw Pacific Rim a few days ago and fell in love. Seriously, the best movie I've seen in a while. Anyway I just had to write this story. It's a Raleigh/OC since I think he deserved someone and I don't think he and Mako loved each other like that. So this story alternates between No POV and Laura's POV. Laura's my OC. I literally wrote all of this in two or three days, so tell me if it needs improvement anywhere because i have a good feeling it will and I'll fix it. Love reviews, love criticism, don't like it when people say it's horrible and don't tell you why or just suggestions on how to make it better. So please do tell, read, review, tell others.**

**No POV**

It had been three months since the robbery. Laura was moving to Alaska to help out with the Jaeger program, maybe enlist in the Academy later on when the bank she was in was robbed. She survived, luckily, many did not. Thinking back on that day standing on the Alaskan coast was the last thing she wanted to do. She came here partially to get away from it all, Alaska being very isolated from most of the outside world; the perfect place to relax and move on… or hide as some would say; hiding from your problems, running away from them. Laura didn't believe this; it's not because she didn't want to believe this it's because she honestly knew deep down that isn't what she is doing.

She sees something moving out above the water and she raises her hand to shield her eyes from the snow and squints. It's getting closer and it's huge. She sees lights on it and hears metal on metal. _A Jaeger. But what is it doing all the way out here? The Alaska Shatter dome isn't exactly close to here._ She gets her answer as the Jaeger falls to its knees and she sees its entire left arm is gone and it has scratch marks all over it. It collapses face first into the sand and it's sparking all over. She runs for the head; she's studied Jaegers and knows that's where the pilots are. She sees an opening and slows to a walk, carefully walking inside. She flinches away from some sparks on her left and turns on her flashlight she brought since visibility with the snow it poor; she's even more grateful she brought it now. She runs the beam over the area and sees a man trying to get up. She carefully, as to not trip on any of the debris, runs over to him and grabs his arm, helping him up. He uses her to support himself and she guides his right arm around her neck. She notices there's no other pilot and wonders how in the hell he got the Jaeger to shore, it shouldn't be possible with only one pilot. She pushes those thoughts from her mind as she helps him out and onto the sand. He starts to collapse and she helps lower him a little more gracefully to the ground. He falls onto his back and she sees blood on the right side of his face, his armor torn around his left shoulder with scratch marks in the skin and blood running out from under his armor on his right side. She looks back up at his face to see he's unconscious fully now. His eyes start to flutter closed and she knows that's probably not such a good idea with him having a head wound.

"Sir, sir, you need to stay awake, ok? You have a head wound, maybe a concussion, it would be bad for you to fall asleep," Laura says, but his eyes close and remain shut. She curses lightly and feels around his helmet for the clamps to take it off. She presses them and throws his helmet to the side. She takes his pulse and finds it's a little weak, but steady. She sighs in relief and looks at the cut above his eyebrow but finds it's not too bad, probably won't even need stitches. The scratches on his shoulder however probably will. Her hands go to where the blood is on his side but can't find a way to get to it through his armor. Thinking about it, it would probably be best to keep it on with how cold it is; she can figure out how to take it off when they get back to her house. There are no hospitals or medical centers for miles and in this weather the roads will be dangerous. She has a medical kit, a big one, for those reasons at home. She knows she can't carry him, so dragging will have to do. She grips his shoulders, careful of the wound on his left shoulder and starts dragging. It's not too far to her house but by the time she gets there her arms really hurt, but she doesn't stop until she gets him inside. She somehow gets him up onto her couch and gets her first aid kit. She opens it and gets bowl and towel. She wipes the blood and grime off his forehead injury and uses disinfectant on it before applying some butterfly bandages. She moves to his shoulder next and does the same, but instead of butterfly bandages she has to use stitches and then tapes some gauze over it. His side is troubling her because she knows from her studies of the Jaeger program that the suit is drilled together. She carefully turns him over to see the type of drill she would need and she's surprised because she knows she has one that would work in the garage. This place isn't actually hers; it's a friend's, a guy friend who works mechanics. She lightly puts the pilot on his back and runs to the garage and grabs the drill. It takes her a while but she manages to get the armor unscrewed. She presses the button for the metal spine and it disengages and she puts it on the table. She takes off the armor slowly, putting the pieces on the table next to her and finally reaches the wound on his side. It's not bad, but it isn't just a scratch either. She cleans the wound and stitches it and tapes gauze over it before cleaning him off. His arms, face, chest, stomach, but nothing else. She cleans up and watches him as he sleeps a million questions running through her head. What happened? How did his Jaeger get so badly damaged? Where was the other pilot? How did he get his Jaeger to shore by himself? She knows it could damage your brain piloting a Jaeger alone so does he have any brain damage? When is he going to wake up? The wound on his forehead wasn't that bad so why did he pass out? Was it from the strain of piloting his Jaeger alone? And lastly, the weather is getting worse, so how am I going to get him to a hospital?


	2. Chapter 2

**Laura POV**

The pilot has been asleep for two days and in that time I haven't left his side. The weather has gotten worse, which worries me just in case this man might have to go to a hospital if his wounds get infected, but I guess we'll make due.

I am awoken by my arm being shaken. I feel like I'm starting to fall and jolt awake. I right myself on me chair and see the pilot is awake. I sit up and lean forward slightly and see his expression is guarded.

"Where am I?" he asks.

"You're in my house. I was on the beach when your Jaeger to shore and collapsed. I went in and helped you out. You've been asleep for two days," I tell him. He tries to sit up and a sound of pain escapes his lips, his hand going to his side.

"You shouldn't do that quite yet. You're side was cut; I had to stitch it up. Your shoulder and forehead too."

He sits up anyway and looks at his shoulder and puts a hand to his forehead, but I can tell he's not all there.

"Are you alright?" I ask gently and he doesn't even seem to hear me.

"Are you alright?" I try again a little louder. He seems to hear me and looks over at me, but there's something about his gaze that seems like he's broken inside.

"Um… no," he says, not like it's supposed to be obvious, but just an honest answer and he squeezes his eyes shut.

"Is it your wounds?"

He shakes his head and tears come down his face. I'm worried now, very worried.

"Did- did you find the other pilot?" he asks his voice shaky.

"No, no there was only you," I say softly.

He nods and starts crying harder. My heart breaks for him and I reach out to him slowly, not knowing if I will make him more upset, but I do it anyway not being able to just watch. I put my hand on his shoulder and he flinches slightly but other than that doesn't move away. I take this as permission and sit next to him on the couch, sliding my arm around his neck. He leans into me and I tighten my grip, careful of his shoulder. He grips onto my shirt and cries into my shoulder. He just cries for what seems like hours and I just hold him, finding myself starting to cry hearing his pain fills sobs. Eventually his tears finally stop and I realize he's fallen asleep. I try to move so I can lie him back down but his hand instinctively grips onto my shirt again. I sit back down and shift us so we're in a more comfortable position and one that won't aggravate his wound. He's sort of on top of me yet beside me and I feel myself wanting to sleep as well. I put my hand over his balled up one clutching my shirt and close my eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Laura POV**

Again he wakes up first and wakes me up as he sits up. He runs his hands over his face and seems like he's trying to collect himself before lowering his hands and looking at me.

"Sorry," is all he says.

"It's alright, I didn't mind," I say and he nods, looking down.

He sees his armor on the table and I look at his reaction to seeing it there. But all I see is nothing, no expression, just sadness.

"Would you like anything, water, food?" I ask.

"Um, yeah, sure," he says and I nod before getting up. I get him a glass of water, some bread and some chicken.

I put it on the table in front of him and sit in the chair again. He eats and drinks all of it and I just watch him. When he's done he puts it on the table.

"Thanks," he says. There's no smile, just the same expression, one of sadness.

I nod and take the dishes to the sink. I come back and say, "What's your name?"

He looks up at me, so caught up in his thoughts I think he forgot I was here.

"Raleigh, Raleigh Beckett."

"Laura Coleman," I say and give him a small smile.

"Are you alright?" I ask again, my expression turning sad.

He doesn't answer, his expression just getting sadder.

"Right, stupid question," I say nodding, "How about physically?"

"I'm good," he says. There's a moment of silence before I ask.

"What happened- I think I have an idea, I know a little about the Jaeger program?" I ask.

His expression looks like he's remembering something painful, but doesn't answer.

I look down, half not expecting an answer. "Who were they?"

He looks back up at me, his expression so full of pain I regret asking.

"He was my b-brother," he answers, tears coming to his eyes again. I don't say anything, 'I'm sorry' not really cutting it because if what I thinks happened did actually happen, I'm sorry isn't going to do anything at all.

"Where is this?" he asks suddenly.

"Alaska, Cordova," I answer.

He nods and gets up.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Thank you for helping me, but I should be going," he says.

"Going, going where? And how?" This makes him stop and I continue.

"Look, the weather outside is horrible so you're not going to be able to go anywhere until it stops and I promise I'll take you wherever you want to go after the storm passes. Until then though, it seems you'll be staying here."

He looks at me and nods.

"Can… can I take a shower?" he asks.

"Yeah, sure," I say. I gesture for him to follow me and he does.

"Shower's in there," I say and point to the door, "I'll get you a change of clothes. This place is actually my friends and he won't mind. I'll get you a towel too. You should probably take of the gauze and careful with the stitches, try not to get soap in the wounds or else it'll sting," I say and he nods still a little absent.

I get the towel and change of clothes and give them to him and he walks into the bathroom and shuts the door. I hear the water turning on and walk into the bedroom, deciding to change myself.

I wait for him to get out of the shower and when he does he looks much better. I gesture for him to sit down and he does. I already have more gauze and tape ready and quickly redo the bandages. He nods thanks and I give him a small smile.

I sit next to him and there's a slightly awkward silence. He doesn't notice, too occupied with his thoughts and I see him look at his right hand and his eyebrows furrow, like he's remembering something painful; which he probably is. He looks back down at the floor and shakes his head a little.

"You know talking about it can help," I say.

He looks over at me and I say with a sad smile, "Trust me, I would know."

He's confused and I lift up my shirt to show a thin scar. "That was in the first Kaiju attack."

I lift up my wrist to show another scar, "That's when my parents were killed when I was twelve."

His expression is unreadable and he waits for a few seconds as if trying to decide what to do. "My brother and I were pilots. He died, right in front of me."

"You… you were still connected, weren't you?"

He looks at me and nods, before looking down, starting to cry a little. I hug him and it takes a second for him to hug me back, but when he does he holds on tight.


	4. Chapter 4

**Laura POV**

Two day later

Raleigh and I had spent two days already in this house. It's fairly large for an Alaskan home, but still small. He hadn't really felt up to doing anything and I remember what I felt like after my parents' death, so I completely understand. Well, I don't completely understand since Raleigh was mentally connected to his brother when he died, but I still know what it's like to lose family. I also remember that my other family came over and tried to cheer me up, not too much, just a little, to get me to smile once. So that's what I plan to do today. I've only know this man for five days and he's only been awake for two or three, but I feel like I need to help him; I want to help him.

I walk into the living room with a board game in hand. Raleigh is in the kitchen, he insisted to help around, something I didn't object too; keeping busy helps- as long as it doesn't distract you from dealing with the loss. But I don't think doing the dishes is going to do that.

He sees me and I hold up the game with a small smile. He turns around completely and leans on the sink. I think I see the faint ghost of a smile and he walks to the living room table and I sit next to him, getting out the game.

By the time we finish the game, I get that smile.

Three days later

We're sitting on the couch late at night. Raleigh has had nightmares every night, bad ones, but I don't mind; I remember having them too. By now when I wake him up and he's crying and hugs me he doesn't feel embarrassed by it, it feels natural now.

"We were sent out to protect Anchorage from a category four Kaiju. There was this boat though in the water just off shore, we weren't supposed to rescue it, our commander said the city had two million people, the boat had ten, but we didn't care. We went after the boat and when we got there, so was the Kaiju. We fought; we had thought we killed it," he stops, starting to cry again. I rub his back.

"Anyway, we-we had thought we killed it, but we didn't- more like pissed it off. It attacked again and pulled Yancy right out of the Conn-pod." I just nod, letting him say it all out loud.

"I could feel him. His fear, his helplessness, his panic and-and I felt him die," he finishes and I hug him.

"It wasn't your fault, it wasn't your fault," I say, knowing he's blaming himself.

"If I had just checked to make sure it was dead," he says and I cut him off.

"No, no, you both thought it was dead, you had no reason to think it wasn't dead. This was NOT your fault Raleigh," I say strongly.

He nods into my shoulder and I close my eyes, knowing it's probably easier saying it than believing it, it was for me. I hug him tightly; wishing I could just take all his pain away, but I know I can't, just help him through it.

Five days later

The storm had finally past and Raleigh's wounds are healing well; the one on his forehead almost completely healed, just a scratch left.

"Where will you go?" I ask. I already knew he had no intention of going back to the Jaeger program and I couldn't blame him.

"Don't know, anywhere," he says.

"Got any family, friends?" I ask.

"Nope," he says somewhat sad.

"Ok, now that's not true," I say and he looks at me and smiles a rare smile. I can tell it's not his regular smile, it's not big enough, but it's a start, a good start.

"Of course," he says. I smile back and he starts packing his bag. I leant him some things and just seeing him pack makes me frown. I don't want him to go. I find that even though I've known him for a little over a week, I'm very… attached to him. Maybe a little more than just a friend type of attached, but I guess we'll never find out now. He swings his pack on his back and looks at me.

"Ok then, let's go," I say. I promised him I'd drive him where ever he wanted to go and he said just into town would be fine.

We go to my truck and get in. We had dug it out earlier and the road had been paved right after the storm had ended. There's a comfortable silence as we drive into town. I park in town and he gets out, me following. I walk up onto the sidewalk next to him and look at him, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye then. Good luck Raleigh," I say and hug him.

"Thanks Laura, for everything," he whispers in my ear. I close my eyes, so badly wanting him to stay, but I can't ask him to do that. I try to memorize everything about him and all too soon he pulls away. I smile; it's slightly tinted with sadness and so is his. He nods and starts walking. I stand there watching him go, regret pooling in my stomach. He looks back once, giving me a small smile and I hold up my hand and so does he. I put my hands in my pockets, feeling like I just made the biggest mistake of my life as he disappears around the corner. The feeling of regret and sadness so great I feel almost sick and feel the stinging on my eyes that means tears are forming. I don't think I can handle any more sadness or regret, I already have too much there's no more room for more. But I made my choice, now I have to live with the consequences.


	5. Chapter 5

**Laura's POV**

"Again," I say as one of the trainees, one of my bet, is beaten again. They go again, yet he's still beaten.

"Ok, ok stop," I say, "Lawson."

I wave him over and he stands in front of me.

"Your mind wondering today?" I ask.

"Yes ma'am," he says honestly.

"What about?" I ask gently.

"My younger brother died, in one of the latest Kaiju attacks. I got the news this morning," he says and I nod solemnly.

"I'm sorry, how about you take the rest of the day off, come back tomorrow when you're head is straight," I say and he nods, bowing and I bow back, dismissing him.

I watch the others train, which is exactly what I do all day. I watch the candidates train, then the ones who are already pilots. Sometimes it can be rather boring, not usually, but sometimes like today, it is.

Two months after Raleigh left I joined the Jaeger Academy. I had no idea where he was and I had hoped one day he'd join back up with the Jaeger program, but so far, after five years, he hasn't. It was worth it though. I had already been thinking about joining, but Raleigh ready made me want to. Most people would've been completely against the idea of joining after meeting Raleigh and seeing what he went through, but I'm not most people. After joining the Academy to become a pilot, I was one of the strongest candidates to actually becoming one. But right before they picked the next pilots, I was cut from the list. It turned out that one of the main reasons I had gotten this far- the fact my senses are super sensitive and I'm really agile and quick physically and mentally- is also the reason I was cut. I could do those things because I could access twenty five percent of my brain while awake while everyone else can only access twenty. This means my brain isn't compatible with anyone else's, at least not without some risk. I am the perfect candidate in the physical aspects but Stacker said it would be a risk for me to Drift with anyone. My brain isn't the only problem; I have some traumatic past experiences, ones I could easily get stuck in. So since I can't be a pilot, I train the candidates that could be and watch over the training sessions of the people who are pilots. I'm good at this job since my senses are enhanced and am in top physical condition, so I could easily take down many.

Over the last few months we've been all but shut down and have been getting as many Jaegers as possible. There's only a short amount of time left though. I'm friends with Mako Mori, and so Stacker a little. Stacker once asked me if she knew where Raleigh was, but I hadn't had any contact with him since Alaska five years ago. That's when Stacker found him. We have a plan to close the Breach for good, but they need more protection for the bomb delivery and that's going to be Raleigh's job.

I'm standing on the deck beside Mako when the helicopter lands. When Raleigh steps out I smile; he looks exactly the same, maybe not as sad. Raleigh looks around on the top step, as if looking for someone and when he sees me he freezes. Then he runs down the steps and says, "Laura?"

I smile very wide and we hug tightly.

"Raleigh," I say.

We pull apart. "What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Just… helping out," I say. "It's good to see you again."

"Same," he says still smiling.

Stacker arrives and takes an umbrella from Mako. She also hands on to Raleigh who puts it up, me and him standing underneath it.

"Mr. Beckett, this is Mako Mori, One of our brightest, also in charge of the Mark Three Restoration program," Stacker says. "She personally handpicked your co-pilot candidates."

Mako says something in Japanese, "_I imagined him differently."_

Stacker goes to speak, but Raleigh does instead. "Hey, _better or worse?"_

I smile and look down; knowing Mako has to be a little embarrassed.

Mako doesn't answer; she just says she's heard of his work.

Raleigh nods smiling and so does Mako. They go inside, Mako taking the umbrellas. I stand next to Raleigh, looking at the Kaiju parts. It kind of creeps me out that they're still technically alive, but I can tolerate looking at them knowing Raleigh is here. I always felt safer when he was near, just an instinct, one of the main reasons I trusted him all those years ago.

"We'll show you around the base and then Miss Coleman will take you to your Jaeger Mr. Beckett," Stacker says.

We hear a series of, "Hold on" and "Wait for us" and the two scientists from the research department slip in.

The elevator closes and starts to descend.

"Stay back, Kaiju specimens are extremely rare so look but don't touch please," Newt says.

"Mr. Beckett this is our research team, Dr. Gottieb and Mr. Geiszler," Stacker introduces.

"Hi, call me Newt, only my mother calls me Doctor," Newt says, still introducing himself the same way he introduced himself to me months ago.

I tap Raleigh's shoulder and he turns to me. I whisper to him, "They're a little… different than what you would expect."

He looks at me a little confused, yet he sort of understands because of how Newt introduced himself.

"Herman, these are human beings, why don't you say hello," Newt says.

"I have asked you not to refer to me by my first name…" you can't hear Herman anymore as he and Newt speak at once. I just smile and Raleigh looks over at me and asks, "Do they do this a lot?"

I nod, "A lot."

Raleigh smiles and looks back at Newt. "What is that, Yamarashi?"

"This little Kaiju," Newt says and one of my eyebrows rises at the word little, knowing how big he really was, "Yeah you got a good eye."

"My brother and I took him down in 2017," Raleigh says and I smile at the fact he can talk about his brother and smile at the same time now.

"You know he was one of the biggest category three's ever, it was 2500 tons of awesome," Newt says and I wince; Kaiju are not something to kid about, they've done a lot of damage and killed a lot of people. I see Raleigh's expression change and he looks at Newt.

"Or awful, either way, whatever you want to call it," Newt amends, looking away. I touch Raleigh's arm and he immediately relaxes, just like he always did five years ago.

"Please excuse him, he's a Kaiju groupie, he loves them," Herman starts and I and Raleigh look on in amusement as they start to bicker again.

"Shut up Herman I do not love them, ok? I study them, and unlike most people, I want to see one alive and up close one day," Newt says and I look at him thinking, _"Are you insane? Believe me, you don't."_

The elevator stops and Mako and Stacker walk out. I wait for Raleigh as he puts his hand on Newt's shoulder and says, "Trust me, you don't want to." He moves forward, me following giving Newt a look that says _"You really want to believe him"._

"So that's your research division?" Raleigh asks.

"Things have changed," Stacker says as they come to a door. Mako types in the code and Stacker continues, "We're not an army anymore Mr. Becket, we're the resistance. Welcome to the Shatter dome."

The door opens and Stacker, Mako and I watch as Raleigh walks through and looks around. We walk in after him as he turns around to see everything, looking back above the door.

"War clock, we reset it after every Kaiju attack, it keeps everyone focused. The frequency of attacks if accelerating," Stacker says, walking past Raleigh with Mako, but I wait for him.

"How long till the next reset?" Raleigh asks.

"A week!" Stacker shouts back. Raleigh almost runs into a cart driver and I smile, trying to suppress a laugh. Raleigh sees this and smiles at me, amused with himself too.

"We're lucky, my experts believe they'll be a Kaiju attack before that," Stacker says and we run to catch up with him and Mako. "This complex used launch thirty Jaegers in five bays just like this one, now we only have four Jaegers left."

"I didn't know it was this bad," Raleigh says.

"It is that bad," Stacker says. He points up at the Jaeger we're coming to. "The Crimson Typhoon, China. Good gracious. Assembled in Shan Two, titanium core, no alloys, fifty diesel engine per muscle strand, a very precise fighter. It's piloted by the Wei Tang brothers; triplets. They've successfully defended Hong Kong port seven times, they use the Thundercloud formation."

"Oh, yeah, triple arm technique," Raleigh comments.

"Very effective," Stacker says. Raleigh sees them playing basket ball and watches before Stacker gets his attention again with another Jaeger.

"That tank, last of the T-90s, Cherno Alpha. First generation Mark One, the heaviest, oldest Jaeger in service, but make no mistake Mr. Beckett, she's a brutal war machine," Stacker says and Raleigh moves up in front of us to see the Jaeger better. "Those two, Sasha and Aleksis Kaidonovsky."

"Yeah I've heard of them," Raleigh says, "Perimeter Patrol, Siberian wall."

"They've been here for six years, _six years_," Stacker exaggerates, drawing it out.

We walk around some more, coming up on the Striker Eureka.

"Herc! Chuck! Welcome to Hong Kong!" Stacker shouts across to them. Herc starts walking toward us and let's go of the leash for his dog, Max.

"Don't drool on Miss. Mori," Herc says as if Max could actually understand as Mako bends down to pet him. "There you go, getting us all wound up."

"Raleigh this is Hercules Hanson an old friend from the Mark One glory days," Stacker introduces.

"I know you mate, we've run together before," Herc says.

"We did sir, six years ago, my brother and I, a three Jaeger team drop," Raleigh says.

"That's right, I'm sorry about your brother," Herc says sincerely.

"Thank you sir," Raleigh says getting solemn for a moment.

"Herc and his son Chuck are going to be running point in the Striker Eureka, fastest Jaeger in the world," Stacker tells them.

"The first and last of the Mark Fives, they decommissioned it a day before the Sydney attack," Herc says.

"Yeah, it was lucky we were still around."

"Yep, and now it's running point for us."

"Wait, running point on what? You haven't told me what I'm doing here yet," Raleigh says turning to Stacker.

"We're going for the Breach Mr. Beckett, we're going to strap a 2400 pound thermo nuclear warhead to Striker's back. That's the equivalent of 1.2 billion tons of TNT and you and two other Jaegers are going in defense for them," Sacker informs Raleigh.

"I thought you were the resistance, where'd you get something that big?"

"See the Russians back there, they can get us anything," Stacker supplies. "Herc, shall we?"

"Good to have you back," Herc says before moving off with Stacker and Mako.

"Thank you sir," Raleigh says.

"You want to see her?" I ask Raleigh.

"Definitely, just give me a minute," he says before shouting, "Marshal!" and racing after Stacker.

I already know what he's going to say, he's asking how they're going to get the bomb through the Breach since nothing has before, and I also know Stacker isn't going to tell him anything.

Raleigh walks back to me, glancing at Chuck on the way.


	6. Chapter 6

**Laura POV**

I lead Raleigh up to a platform where he can see Gypsy Danger the best.

"There she is Raleigh," I say, gesturing with my arm. He walks past me; his expression makes me smile though. It's like a kid at Christmas, though a little more serious than that.

"Oh my god," he breathes out, walking to the edge of the platform. I follow slowly, smiling, just loving seeing him so happy; I've never really seen it before.

"Look at her, Gypsy Danger," Raleigh says and I stand next to him. "God, so beautiful, she looks like new."

"She pretty much is, she has a new double core nuclear reactor, she's a one of a kind," I say. "But then again, wasn't she always."

He looks at me and there's an expression on his face I can't place, but it's a good expression.

We hear a voice and Raleigh turns around, me doing the same. It's Tendo.

"…and a new fluid synapse system," Tendo finishes, making a line with his hands. Raleigh throws down his bag and gives Tendo a big hug. I smile, seeing old friends reunite.

"It's good to see you buddy," Raleigh says.

"It's good to see you too brother," Tendo replies. "Just like old times."

"Oh, Tendo, have you met Laura?" Raleigh says and Tendo says, "I have not, where have you been hiding?"

"Oh please Tendo, you met me my first day here," I say and turn to Raleigh, "He asked me out, I turned him down."

"Smart move," Raleigh says and Tendo elbows him and I smile at their brotherly behavior.

We get to Raleigh's room and he starts unpacking what little possessions he has. "So, how did you end up here? Didn't think you would join the Jaeger program, not after seeing what happened to me."

"Well, I had already been thinking about it before I found you and after you left I decided I wanted to, most people would've done the complete opposite seeing the effect it had on you, but I'm not most people," I say.

"No, no you're not," he nods, smiling.

"And should I take that as an insult or a compliment?" I ask.

"Compliment, definitely," he says, "So, you a pilot?"

"No, joined the academy, wasn't a candidate," I say.

"Then what are you doing here, Tendo knows you so you must work somewhere close to the pilot aspect," he says.

"You could say that. All your co-pilot candidates I helped train, I also watch over the current pilots training sessions," I say.

"Usually that's a job a retired pilot does. If you can do that job than why aren't you a pilot? What's your kill rate?" he persists.

"60 drops/60 kills," I say blushing and he says astonished, "That's impossible, there've only been 51 Kaiju."

"Well when I beat all the simulations the tech crews came up with new ones, they designed their own Kaiju," I say.

"I still don't get it, how can you not even be a candidate?"

"Stacker has his reasons, good reasons," I say cryptically, my eyebrows furrowing remembering said reasons.

"Doesn't he always? Come on; tell me, why can't you be a pilot?"

I shrug and sit down on his bed and say, "It's nothing really, my past would be… problematic for the Drift." I'm half lying, my past is pretty bad and it would be likely I would get caught up in those memories, but that isn't the biggest reason.

"Yeah, but with 60 kills," he says.

"Raleigh, drop it," I say and he smiles slightly and nods.

"So, you train the other pilots, how does that work?" he asks.

"Well, I watch them fight each other, give them pointers, that's about it," I tell him.

"So you don't ever fight?" he asks grinning.

"Rarely now in days, though I always welcome a chance to kick some ass," I say and we laugh.

"That I would like to see," he says.

"Maybe you will, who knows. You could always fight me yourself," I suggest.

"Careful, I might just take you up on that offer," he says.

"Oh, I look forward to it," I say and get up. "But right now I have to meet with the pilots for their training session."

"Bye Laura, hey," he says and I turn around. "It's really good to see you again."

My heart flutters at seeing for the first real time a genuine smile from him and I say, "You have no idea how good it is to see you again Raleigh."


	7. Chapter 7

**Laura's POV**

"Chuck, keep your arms up," I say to him as he and his father train. Of course he acts like he doesn't even hear me because he doesn't correct his mistake. Ever since day one here he's hated me, I don't know why; I hadn't even said hi and he had decided he already hated me.

"Don't overextend," I say once again to Chuck but he ignores me and punches at his father, overextending and corrupting his balance. His father then takes advantage of that and take him down.

Herc helps his son back up and I sigh, "Again, and Chuck this time try to listen to what I have to say."

"Oh you think you could do better," he challenges. I look up from my papers to him.

"Are you challenging me?" I ask. "Because I can say for certain if we were to fight you'd lose."

There are murmurs in the background from the other pilots and the candidates that have decided to watch. His expression drops, getting slightly angry.

"I doubt that," he says sarcastically.

I smirk, "Well then, let's find out shall we."

I put my clipboard down; take my jacket and boots off. Herc looks up at me, smiling; he's seen me fight before, just earlier this morning before Raleigh got here and knows his son doesn't stand a chance. He moves off the mat as I step onto it. It's hand to hand so I don't need anything except myself; I've always been the best at hand to hand combat.

Chuck stands across from me and gets into a combat position and I get into mine. I wait for him to come at me and when he does, I simply side step him and hit him on the back. He stumbles forward and turns to face me, slightly angered. My face is blank; someone might even say I am bored. Chuck comes at me again and this time he's smarter about it. He goes to punch me in the stomach, but I side step again and grab his arm; once again he overextended. I pull him forward and knee him in the stomach. I kick his leg out from underneath him and he hits the ground face first.

I back away and say, "I told you, don't overextend."

He gets up and comes at me again. This time he manages to get a hit in, but only one and I stumble back. I smile, seeing him start to adapt to my fighting style. He comes at me again and I wait until he's close enough before doing one of my more… complex moves. I do a back hand spring and as my legs go into the air they hit his face. I land perfectly and see him a few feet away holding his nose which is now bleeding. I lower my stance and hold out my hand.

"Herc," I say and he knows what I want from fighting with me earlier. He tosses a piece of material to me.

"This might make things a little easier for you," I say to Chuck and I put the blindfold on.

I can't see anything, just some colors through the red blindfold, but not enough that I know exactly what's happening like I can without the blindfold. Most people rely on their eyes, especially when fighting, but now that I can't see I just have to rely on my other senses. I do this often; I've had so much practice with regular combat I needed a challenge and something new, but that also means I've practiced this- a lot. I focus on my hearing and can hear shuffling behind me and some murmuring but I ignore it and concentrate just on Chuck. I can hear his feet moving on the mat to my right and move with him. I hear his hand slice the air in front of me and can feel the wind on my face from it. I don't flinch, knowing he would do that. I hear him breathe out almost in laughter and wait for him to attack. I hear him moving and can feel the air on my face. I duck and can feel his fist fly over my head. I step behind him, switching places with him and can hear him move around a little, wondering how I did that. He circles me, but I don't move, even though I know exactly where he is. I hear him run toward me and side step, grabbing his arm and knee him in the stomach just like before and move in front of him and grabbing his throat and throwing him onto his back, going down onto a knee. I keep my hand at his throat and remove the blindfold with the other.

"Satisfied?" I ask.

He nods sharply; clearly not happy about losing, especially to a girl and one that was wearing a blindfold. I get up and offer him my hand, which he ignores, glaring at me, and I sigh; knowing that little fight did not just help him hate me less. I don't really care that much though; he is and always will be an ass.

I see him looking not at me, but behind me. I turn to see Stacker and Raleigh there with the other pilots. I guess Raleigh got to see me fight after all. What he says though surprises me.

"I want her as a candidate."

**No POV**

As Laura expected, as soon as Raleigh said he wanted her as a candidate Stacker immediately said no. She knew that answer was coming but she still couldn't help but feel disappointed. Raleigh of course argued, but Stacker was quite firm in his answer. So here they are now, watching Raleigh fight the candidates Mako has selected. Laura watches from behind Stacker and Mako, leaning against a wall. She smiles, seeing how he had many options to take down these guys much quicker. She is impressed though; he's the best fighter she's ever seen and that's saying something since she's seen many. It seems he kept in shape and kept practicing his skills even though he wasn't with the Jaeger program anymore. That makes her wonder; did he plan on coming back eventually, why else would he care?

Raleigh beats yet another candidate, still not feeling any connection with any of them. He sees Laura smiling in the corner and shaking her head and he furrows his eyebrows, wondering why. It's not just a smile, it's almost like she knows something he doesn't. He shakes his head, preparing to fight another candidate, and then another and another.

Laura bites her lip as he takes down another candidate and finally Raleigh just has to know.

"Ok, what?" he says, taking a step toward her. "I thought you trained these guys personally."

Laura frowns, "Sorry?"

"Every time a match ends you shake your head and smile like you were expecting more, like you're critical of their performance," he explains.

"It's not just their performance Raleigh, it's yours as well," Laura says and there's snickering from the candidates. "You could have taken all of them at least two moves earlier."

He smiles a little and says, "You think so."

"This is what I do everyday Raleigh, I know so," Laura says.

"Can we change this up?" Raleigh says to Stacker. "How about we give her a shot?"

He points at Laura using his fighting stick. She looks at him, a smirk spreading across her face and looks at Stacker.

"No, stick to the cadet list we have Ranger. Only candidates with Drift compatibility are eligible," Stacker says. Laura looks down, her smile dropping off her face, knowing he's right, she's not compatible with anyone.

"Come on Marshal, we won't know that until we try, so let's try it," Raleigh says.

"This is not just about Drift compatibility, but physical compatibility as well," Stacker says and Laura raises an eyebrow.

"What's a matter Marshal, you don't think the person that trained not only all of these candidates, but the current pilots as well can cut it in the ring with me?" Raleigh asks.

Stacker looks at Laura after a second. "Go on."

Laura smiles and moves forward, taking off her jacket, boots and getting a fighting stick.

"Four strikes marks a win," Stacker says from behind Laura. She moves forward as does Raleigh.

"Remember it's about compatibility," he says as they switch sides, "It's a dialogue not a fight. And I'm not going to dial down my moves, though I'm not exactly sure if I'll need to after seeing the way you fought earlier."

Laura smirks at this and turns around to face Raleigh. He nods and Laura nods too before moving forward, spinning her stick in an intricate pattern. She stops and he does the same. He takes a step forward and suddenly attacks, his stick stopping right about her forehead.

"1-0," he says.

She surges forward, hitting his stick to the side and putting hers above his head. He's surprised and Laura smiles, "1-1."

He smiles too a little and Laura takes a step back. He attacks first, Laura blocking and they spar, quite evenly matched.

"2-1," Raleigh says his stick at her side.

Laura reacts quickly, hitting his stick and they fight, Laura pushing him back.

"2-2," Laura says. Again Raleigh attacks first, them moving back and forth across the mat until she flips him over her back, and her stick ends up at the side of his face. He's trying to suppress a smile as she says, "3-2."

Laura steps back, Raleigh getting up and he circles her just barely before striking. It's very fast paced, both of them moving in perfect harmony. He manages to flip her like she did him and says, "3-3."

He looks smug and Laura advances suddenly, wanting to prove herself to him and wipe that look off his face. There are a few close calls for them both, but in the end it's Laura who manages to get the last point and win. She's sitting on him quite literally, her stick at his cheek and he smiles, knowing who his co-pilot is going to be.

"Enough," Stacker says.

Laura stands and in that moment right before Stacker interrupted she wanted nothing more to do than kiss Raleigh. It's stupid, there's no way he likes her like that. They only knew each other for a little more than a week; they can't even really be called friends. Colleagues, yes, friends, maybe.

She gives Raleigh a hand up, both breathing hard.

"I've seen what I need to see," Stacker says.

"So have I," Raleigh says, "She's my co-pilot."

He gestures toward Laura and she looks at him, shocked, smiling.

"That's not going to work," Stacker says and her smile falters before dropping completely, remembering why it can't work.

"Why not?"

"Because the risk is too high and because I said so Mr. Beckett. I've made my decision, report to the Shatter Dome in two hours; find out who your co-pilot will be."

Laura glances at Raleigh who's looking at Stacker's retreating figure. She turns away from him and gets her things, feeling his eyes on her as she leaves.

She's in the hall, walking to her room, putting her jacket back on when Raleigh catches up with her.

"Laura, Laura!" Raleigh shouts, completely confused about what just happened. Laura turns to him and he says, "What was all that about? 'The risk is too high', what does that mean?"

Laura doesn't answer so he goes on.

"I mean, I'm not crazy, you felt that right? We are Drift compatible," Raleigh says and Laura winces.

"No, Raleigh, we aren't… I'm not compatible with anyone," Laura says, walking to the door to her room.

He runs to move in front of her again, making her stop. "What do you mean you aren't compatible with anyone? You felt that I know you did, we ARE compatible."

A worker passes them and Laura glances at them before opening her door and grabbing Raleigh's arm, dragging him inside before shutting the door again.

"Laura, what is going on?" he asks.

"Raleigh, I'm not… compatible with you, or with anyone, not now, not ever," Laura says.

"I don't understand, there's always someone you're compatible with," he argues.

"Raleigh it isn't just a connection, its biology too," Laura says and now he's just more confused. She sees this and sighs.

"We didn't find out until I had already gone through all my training- and only a few people know- but I can access twenty five percent of my brain at any one time, while everyone else can only access twenty. It's not enough that I could pilot a Jaeger on my own, but it makes it hard to be compatible with anyone… well, everyone."

"So you're not compatible what so ever?"

Laura sighs again, "No, not exactly. My brain is different; it could cause some problems during the Drift. If the other pilot was… overwhelmed by the extra brain capacity, they could be… damaged. It's a theory, a VERY likely theory, but we wouldn't know until we were to Drift and no one's wanted to try and frankly I can't blame them, it's not worth the potential side effects. Not to mention Stacker wouldn't let them anyway."

He nods, finally understanding. "These side effects, what could they be?"

"We don't know for certain what they will be, or how serious they'll be, or if they'll be any at all, unless we were to try it. But they could be anything, seizures, brain damage, maybe even death, not likely but with how delicate Drifting is, it's still a possibility. But the chance of having these side effects aren't worth the risk when there are plenty of other candidates, safe candidates," Laura says depressed.

"Ok then, I'll take that risk," Raleigh says and Laura looks up at him, very surprised and very confused.

"Why?" is all Laura is able to say.

He says, "Well, you found me on that beach and you took me in, took care of me, I figure I owe you."

She nods, she knows she shouldn't have, but she was hoping for a bit more than an "I owe you" and he then says, "Plus, that connection I just felt, the connection I even felt before five years ago too, I think it's worth the risk."

She asks, "Why?"

He says, "Drift with me and find out."

She smiles a little at this and says, "Even if I would, what makes you think Stacker would let us."

He says, "We are Drift compatible."

Laura says, "Like I said before there's more to it than just a connection."

"I know, but it's like you said, we won't know until we try," Raleigh says.

She looks at him, biting the inside of her cheek and thinks for a few seconds before saying, "Convince Stacker and I'll do it."

He smiles and nods, "Done."

He leaves, practically running and goes to find Stacker.


	8. Chapter 8

**In the movie when the Drift is activated between Raleigh and Mako, Tendo says it's a neural handshake, but actually the neural handshake is what connects the pilots to the Jaeger, the Drift is what connects the pilots to each other. The Drift comes first, then the neural handshake. I'm not sure if the movie just got this wrong or if I'm getting it wrong, so if anyone can find out please tell me. I want to be as accurate as possible.**

**But anyway Raleigh and Laura aren't in a Jaeger for this Drift so they don't need to do a neural handshake, it's jsut a Drift.**

**No POV**

Two hours later Laura still hasn't heard anything from Raleigh and she knows he couldn't convince Stacker. Then there's a knock on her door.

She goes to it and opens it. It's Stacker.

"Laura, suit up, even though I think it's an unnecessary risk since Raleigh could have any pilot he wants, he was determined it was to be you. Meet him in the hanger bay, now," Stacker orders and Laura is surprised, really, really surprised, but when he begins to walk away she snaps out of it.

Laura says, "Wait, Marshal."

He turns back around and she says, "We might not want to do this in the Jaeger."

"Why not?"

Laura says, "We have no idea which way this could go, I'd feel better to be somewhere a medical team could be right there, not to mention if I get caught up in one of my… more terrible memories, all those weapons at my disposal could be bad."

He nods and says, "Go to the Drift testing area; I'll send Raleigh to meet you there. You won't need to suit up."

She nods and he leaves. She exhales, thoroughly amazed that she's about to do this. She dreamed of becoming a pilot for years, even after they told her it would be dangerous.

She goes to the Drift testing area and waits until Raleigh shows up. When he does she can see he's completely confused. He sees her and she smiles, which makes him smile and he walks over to her.

"Laura, what's going on? Marshal just told me to come here, no explanation," he says.

Laura says, "Stacker approved of us becoming co-pilots, but we're going to Drift here, just in case something goes wrong."

He nods to convey his understanding and Stacker walks into the observation room above them along with Tendo, Chuck and Herc. Tendo sits down at the computer and Stacker nods to them. Laura and Raleigh look at each other before moving over to the two Pon sets and placing them on their heads.

"We're not in a simulator now Laura, remember, don't chase the R.A.B.I.T. Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers, memories. Just let them flow, don't latch on. Tune them out, stay in the Drift, the Drift is silence," Raleigh tells Laura and she nods.

Tendo grabs the microphone. "Initiating Drift sequence."

Immediately Raleigh and Laura are in each other's memories as they rush by, but they know something isn't right, they're going way too fast, and it's almost like they can't see all of them clearly.

"Something's wrong," Tendo says, only Stacker, Chuck and Herc being able to hear him.

"What is it?" Stacker asks.

"It's like the bridge keeps shorting out," Tendo says, typing.

"Well we expected some difficulty, just give it time to stabilize," Stacker orders.

"Yes sir," Tendo says, continuing to look over his data.

"Marshal, Marshal! I need to talk to you!" Herman says running, as fast as he can considering he has a cane, into the room.

"Not now Mr. Gottlieb, I'm kind of busy right now," Sacker replies, turning back to the screen.

"Newton created a neural bridge from Garbage and Drifted with a Kaiju," Herman informs them and Stacker, Herc, Chuck and Tendo turn around to face him, completely incredulous.

"Take me to him," is all Stacker can figure out to say and Herman nods and they leave.

Tendo, Chuck and Herc all share identical looks and turn back to Raleigh and Laura. Tendo looks at his screen again and says, "We might have a problem guys."

Herc looks over his shoulder at the screen and asks, "What kind of problem?"

"Um, the Drift isn't stable and it's starting to affect them physically, both of them," Tendo says and Herc and Chuck look at Raleigh and Laura's life sign monitors. Both of their heart rates, respiration and blood pressure are increasing.

"Ok, tell us if it gets to dangerous levels and we'll pull the plug," Herc says.

Tendo nods and says, "Yes sir."

After a minute the Drift stabilizes and everyone breathes out if relief seeing the toll it was starting to take on Raleigh and Laura's bodies.

"Drift stable and holding strong," Tendo says.

"Ok, so he knows how to Drift," Chuck says arrogantly.

"Hey, when his brother was killed they were still connected, could you imagine that, being connected to someone when they die and feel all they feel. Have some respect," Herc defends Raleigh.

There's a beep and Tendo rolls over to another monitor and says, "They're both out of alignment."

"Both of them?" Herc asks.

"Both of them," Tendo confirms. He moves over to the microphone and says into it, "Gypsy, Gypsy, you're both out of alignment."

"I'm alright, just let me control it," Raleigh says, even though the microphone only works on way here. He nods and gives Tendo a thumbs up to say he's ok.

"Raleigh you're stabilizing but Laura is way out. She's starting to chase the R.A.B.I.T.," Tendo says.

"Laura? Laura?" Raleigh says. "Laura, don't get stuck in a memory. Stay with me, stay in the now…"

But Laura can't hear him anymore after that.


	9. Chapter 9

**I just want to clarify a few things. A neural handshake is when the pilots are connected to the Jaeger. The Drift or Bridge is when they pilots are connected. The Drift/Bridge comes first; to link the two pilots together, then the neural handshake connects the pilots to the Jaeger afterward.**

**Laura POV**

I'm doing my homework, which of course I hate, but I have to. It's not like I have a lot, I'm only in the sixth grade, but that doesn't mean I didn't put it off until now, which is about eight o'clock.

_Crash._

I straighten at the sound of glass being broken from downstairs. I move my binder off my lap and go to the top of the stairs. There's a mirror at the bottom of the stairs that lets me see into the kitchen, where the back door is. I see the door's been broken and there are at least two men downstairs. I run back to my room and grab the phone, calling 911. I move back to the top of the stairs and whisper to the operator everything she asks for when they see me.

"They see me," I whisper and drop the phone, not even realizing it.

I run to my room, but the men catch up before I can lock the door. They burst in and grab me roughly, dragging me downstairs. They throw me against the wall next to the stairs and when I look up they have their guns pointed at me.

"Sorry, it's not personal, we just can't have any witnesses," one of them say. I vaguely understand what they mean, they aren't wearing masks. They have them in their hands, well the ones not holding the guns. I close my eyes and turn my head preparing to die when I hear the front door open.

It's my parents. They're talking and my mom screams when she sees the men.

"Mom, dad, run!" I scream.

They try, but are shot down by the men before they can even reach the door. I can't scream, my throat is constricted and I can't seem to breath as I stare at their unmoving bodied, wishing and praying they would just get back up. But they don't.

"Sorry you had to see that little girl, but if it's any consolation, the dead don't tend to remember," one of the men says. I feel a sudden rage and leap up, knocking him to the ground, a shot goes off but it doesn't hit me. I scratch the guy's face and wrench the gun from his hands. I point it at him and back away, but he moves toward me and I pull the trigger. It hits his stomach and he gasps before falling to the floor, unconscious. I turn to my parents and see the other guy is down too.

I drop the gun, shocked since they're probably dead, I probably just killed them. But I don't really care at this moment; all I care about is my parents. I run over to them, sliding on the hardwood floor on my knees. I take my dad's head in my hands and beg him to wake up, but he doesn't. I put my hand to his chest to try to feel a heartbeat but find nothing. I start to cry, tears streaming down my face, especially when I find my mom dead to. My hands are covered in their blood by now and I look at them, holding them up. I see something move in the background and look past my hands to see a man in armor.

"Laura, listen to me, this is just a memory," he says and I blink and he disappears.

**No POV**

Meanwhile in the Drift testing observation room Tendo says, "Raleigh, she's going into another memory."

"What, how is that possible?" Herc asks.

"I don't know, if you get stuck in a memory you usually have to come out of it before getting stuck in another one, and usually you don't because now you can control it, but not here," Tendo says.

"Um, guys," Chuck says, looking at the life signs monitor.

Herc and Tendo glance at it before Tendo hurries back to the microphone.

"Raleigh, no. Stay with us, don't get stuck in her memories," Tendo says.

"What? He can't get stuck in her memories, just his own," Herc says.

"Not according to these readings," Tendo says, "He's getting pulled in."

They all look at Laura and Raleigh below them.

There's a beep and Tendo moves over to the life signs monitor.

"Raleigh's heart rate, respiration and blood pressure are going up again."

"Is the Drift stable?" Herc asks.

"Yes, wait, no, sort of. It's sort of stable, but it's different than anything I've ever seen before and stronger than any connection I've seen before," Tendo answers.

"Is that what's causing Raleigh to get pulled into her memories?" Chuck asks.

"Yes, no, I don't know, but if I had to guess I would say it's just an effect caused by Raleigh getting stuck in Laura's memories, no one's supposed to be able to do that," Tendo says.

**Laura POV**

A few months after my parents' death my aunt took me in, so now I live with my aunt, uncle and younger cousin in San Francisco. I'm in school, sitting at my desk in my math class doing practice problems that I've done a million times before. That's when the shaking starts.

"What is it, an earthquake?" one of my classmates asks.

"No, it can't be; it almost seems like…" I trail off, "Footsteps."

The rhythm is perfect, but what could cause them. I see something out of the window and move over to it, my teacher shouting at me, but I ignore her. I press my hand to the glass and see buildings starting to crumble in the distance and people running terrified toward us. I back away from the window, the others crowding around it to see what I saw. But I don't want to look at it again; I want to run from it.

I grab my cousin's hand, Tim, and we run out of the building, heading in the opposite direction of that…thing I saw. We and many others come to a bridge and start to cross when the creature appears to our right. It's walking right toward us.

"Go, go, go, GO!" I shout and Tim and I run. People abandon their cars and start to run and we are almost to the end of the bridge when the creature walks into it. It shakes -badly- and we fall to the ground. The ground starts to tilt and we start to slide backward down. I grab onto the side of the bridge to my left where there's a little ledge almost and hold on. I grab my cousin, who's to my left and can't grab on and manage to take his hand before he slides down too far. The tilting gets worse and all the cars on the bridge, as well as many people, fall down into the creature. My hand on the bridge starts to slip as well as my other hand that's holding my cousin's hand.

"Hold on!" I shout at him.

"I can't!" he yells back.

The creature moves away and the shaking from the bridge getting walked through stops.

"Yes you can," I encourage but he can't. His hand slips from my grasp.

"NO!" I shout as he falls down into the hole the creature left and I know he couldn't have survived.

I raise my other hand to grab onto the ledge and see to my right a figure looking at me.

"Laura, you can see me, listen, this is just a memory, it's not real!" he shouts and then I blink and he's gone.

**No POV**

Tendo is watching Raleigh's life signs and says, "These levels are getting too high."

"Ok, pull the plug," Herc says, knowing Raleigh's life could be put in danger if they continue this.

All three of them move to the other side of the computers and start pulling plugs. They pull out all the plugs but Laura and Raleigh are still connected.

"What? Tendo, why didn't that work?" Herc yells.

"I don't know, it should've. There's a problem on the bridge failsafe; their connection is too strong," Tendo says, typing on the computers, but nothing he tries works.

"Ok, I'm going to pull the power for the bridge," Tendo says and runs to the other side of the room.

Herc and Chuck look at each other, then at Raleigh and Laura. Tendo pulls the power and all the computers spark. They all flinch and shield their eyes, papers catching fire.

"Fire!" Herc shouts and Chuck runs to the fire extinguisher and tosses it to Herc who puts the fire out. Tendo and Chuck shield their eyes and when Herc finishes luckily the computers aren't toast like most of the papers.

Herc looks at Raleigh and Laura and says, "Um, Tendo…"

Tendo runs over to his computers and types, saying, "What? But that should've worked!"

"Well obviously it didn't, so what now?" Chuck yells.

There's a beep and Tendo runs over to Raleigh's life signs monitor.

"That's not good," he says, the readings are putting Raleigh's heart rate, respiration and blood pressure even higher than before.

"What now?" Herc yells.

"Ok, I can pull the power for this part of the base, it'll shut everything down, but it's the only thing I can think of," Tendo says.

"Do it!" Herc shouts and Tendo runs from the room.

**No POV**

Raleigh appears in a back and asks himself, "How does this keep happening?"

He sees he's in a bank and three men in black with masks. _Robbers. _He looks over to a group of people huddled near a wall. _Hostages._ He moves over to them, spotting Laura at the front of the group. She's leaning over a small boy who's been shot in the stomach. Her hands are applying pressure to his wound.

"Laura? Laura? Please listen to me. This is just a memory. Nothing is real," Raleigh says but she can't hear him. "Come on Laura, you've seen me before, heard me before, listen to me now."

Laura looks to her left, feeling like there's someone there. She blinks and for a second she swears she sees someone there, but then they're gone. She shrugs it off, getting back to the boy who's been shot badly.

"Laura, please. This isn't real, it's just a memory, it's not real!" he says practically yelling, yet she still doesn't hear him.

They boy coughs. "Mom?" Laura looks behind him to another body lying still. _That's his mom,_ Raleigh thinks, remembering this from Laura's previous memories.

"Um, she's… she'll be back in a minute, ok?" Laura lies.

"Why do I hurt?" the boy asks.

"You've been hurt, but you're going to be fine, I promise," Laura says, lying again. She doubts he's going to be alright.

"I want my mommy," he says.

"I know, but she'll be right back, I promise," Laura says. "Why don't you tell me your name?"

"Brendon," he says in a small voice.

"That's a lovely name, I'm Laura," she says.

The boy looks at her. "Where's my mommy?"

Laura freezes and says, "In the bathroom."

"When is she coming back?"

"Any minute now," Laura promises.

"I want my mommy," he says starting to cry.

"I know sweetheart, I know, she'll be here soon," Laura says. He suddenly stops crying, stops everything. Laura feels him still under her hands on his wound. One of her hands moves to take his pulse and her eyes close when she feels nothing. She herself starts to cry and she sits back, putting her face in her hands, blood getting on her face.

"Oh Laura," Raleigh says, not being able to do anything but just watch.

Laura has that feeling again, like someone's sitting next to her and turns slightly to see a man in strange armor kneeling next to her, but as quickly as he appeared, he's gone again.

Raleigh appears in a small town; one he recognizes and asks himself why this memory she is remembering. All her memories are traumatic, horrible moments in her life, why would she remember this one with them?

He sees Laura's truck pull up and sees Laura get out as well as himself, well a memory of his past self. She walks around the car to stand next to his past self and he steps closer and can hear everything they say, which he already knows; he remembers it.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye then. Good luck Raleigh," Laura says and she hugs his past self.

Raleigh can't hear it, but he remembers saying it to her, "Thanks Laura, for everything."

They part and as his past self starts to walk away he knows why this is one of Laura's worst memories, he can feel why. He feels her regret, her sadness, her feeling like she just made one of the biggest mistakes of her life. He closes his eyes, remembering feeling just about the same way.

Laura raises her hands in a wave gesture and his past self does too before turning around and disappearing around a corner. Laura turns around, to get back in her car when she stops, seeing something out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes are blurry, the feeling of regret and sadness so prevalent she's almost crying. She turns slowly and looks up seeing a figure, one that definitely doesn't belong here. He's wearing some type of armor, but it's not the armor, or why someone is here wearing that, it's the face she can see through the glass in the helmet that surprises her the most.

"Raleigh?"

Raleigh opens his eyes and looks at her, hearing Laura say his name. Her head tilts to the side, her eyes lighting up in recognition.

"Laura, this is just a memory, it's not real. None of it is real," he says and her eyebrows furrow and she looks down, remembering something. She looks up at him again before everything fades to black.

**No POV**

"What's going on?" Stacker says, entering the room but seeing it a mess.

"We have a problem with the Drift. Laura got stuck in her memories and she somehow is going from one to another without coming out of them first. Raleigh is also somehow stuck with her and his some of his life sign readings are getting to dangerous levels. We tried to break the connection but it didn't work. Tendo just left the pull the power for this section of the base since it was the only thing he could think of," Herc explains.

Stacker nods and there's a beep. Chuck leans over the desk to the computer.

"The Drift is stabilizing."

Herc moves over to Raleigh's life sign readings. "So are Raleigh's life sign readings."

Raleigh and Laura open their eyes to be bombarded with the real world, everything rushing back at once, their senses overloaded. They're back in the Drift testing room and Laura falls to her knees, eyes closed. Raleigh is in much the same state and rips the Pons off his head. He looks over at Laura and crawls over to her. He rolls her over onto her back, taking the Pons off her head and her eyes open. He sighs in relief and she starts crying. He sits her up and holds her and she puts her head on his chest.

"It's ok, it's ok Laura," he says.

"Raleigh?" she whispers, clinging to him like a lifeline.

"Oh Laura, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I'm here now, I've got you," he says softly to her.

She just tightens her grip, the feeling from the last memory still with her, the feeling that he's going to leave again and now more than ever she doesn't want him to. He seems to sense this because his grip tightens and he says, "I promise, I've never going anywhere ever again."

Then the power cuts and it gets dark.


	10. Chapter 10

**No POV**

Raleigh and Laura are outside Stacker's room, listening as Chuck yells, saying he doesn't want them on the protection detail for Striker when they attack the Breach. Raleigh paces while Laura just stands there, watching him.

She remembers all the memories they went through very clearly and her reaction when they came out of them. Raleigh now knows what she felt when he left and she knows he felt much the same. She helped him so much in such a short amount of time; she became his rock and he left. She also knows he was wishing he hadn't for weeks afterward and even every now and again through the last five years.

She also knows what happened outside the memories; Raleigh almost died, his heart rate, respiration and blood pressure steadily rose until the point they had to pull the plug it got so bad. He could've died; she could've killed him because she pulled him into her memories, making him get stuck. It's something you're not supposed to be able to do during a Drift. But they did and neither the tech, nor Raleigh could handle the strain. She almost killed him.

The door opens and Chuck comes out.

"Ai, stay there. Give me a moment," Herc says, pointing at Chuck. Raleigh comes to stand next to Laura and looks at Chuck. Herc closes the door and Chuck turns to them, Raleigh glaring at him.

"You two are a goddamn disgrace. You couldn't even handle a simple Drift, and you want to get into a Jaeger. You two are going to get us all killed, and here's the thing Raleigh," Chuck says and looks at Raleigh who is refusing to look at him, glaring at the wall across from them.

Chuck continues, "I want to come back from this mission, cause I quite like my life. So why don't you," he flicks Raleigh's chest and Raleigh finally looks up at him, his gaze infuriated, "Just do us all a favor and disappear; it's the only thing you're good at."

This infuriates Laura, Raleigh is so much better than him in every way, most prominently he's not an ass and a bully. But she's still reeling from the Drift and her memories she saw, in specific the last one and Chuck telling Raleigh to disappear just adds to the irrational fear he will.

"Oh shut up," Laura says, moving forward, but Raleigh's hand on her shoulder stops her. He saw her tense when Chuck told him to leave and he felt her reaction to him leaving the first time, not to mention when they came out of the Drift. He promises to never leave her again. He knows she doesn't want him to, he knows she partially joined the Jaeger program hoping he'd come back one day and he likes her, he really, really likes her. The Drift, seeing all her memories and everything about her just added to him liking her, possibly even moving him more toward not just liking her, but- Chuck's next words rip him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah that's right, you just hold back you're little girlfriend, even if she did almost kill you," Chuck says and Laura flinches under Raleigh's hand, something he notices and this adds to Raleigh's growing impatience with the man. He just hurt Laura twice in the same day.

But Chuck isn't finished yet and says, "One of you bitches needs a leash."

This makes Raleigh snap. He hits Chuck and Chuck tries to fight back, but Raleigh such a better fighter. Chuck lands on his knees and spits out blood.

"Apologize to her," Raleigh says as Chuck wipes the blood off his chin.

"Screw you," Chuck says and gets up, taking a swing at Raleigh which Raleigh easily ducks under. Raleigh pushes Chuck into a wall and Chuck shoves him into the other one. But Raleigh gets the upper hand easily and throws Chuck into some pipes, which burst and steam comes out. Chuck lets out a yell of pain and slowly walks forward, still not finished. If he were smart he would walk away, but he doesn't.

"I said, apologize to her," Raleigh says loudly.

Chuck just moves forward and comes at Raleigh. Laura can tell Raleigh is barely even trying and yet still flips Chuck over and pins his arm using his legs and Chuck yells out.

"Alright enough, what's going on?!" Herc shouts coming out of Stacker's quarters. "On your feet, both of ya!"

Raleigh gets up; backing away from Chuck as he slowly gets up. Stacker comes out and says, "Beckett, Coleman, my office."

Herc intercepts his son who was going after Raleigh.

"This is over! You're a Ranger for Christ sake, why don't you start acting like one!" Herc yells at Chuck.

Raleigh turns around and walks toward Laura and Stacker and they go into Stacker's room. They can hear Herc yelling at Chuck on the way.

"I went out of phase first, it was my mistake," Raleigh tries to explain.

"That had nothing to do with your physical symptoms," Stacker says.

"But the Drift stabilized in the end, even before I went out of phase and the physical symptoms went away. It worked," Raleigh says.

"And what about the next time?" Stacker asks.

"It'll be fine, we've already got stuck in the memories once, it won't happen again," Raleigh says, but they both know there's a risk, the tiniest of risks that it will happen again. It's happened once before.

"No, it's not worth the risk," Stacker says.

"What? So you're grounding us" Raleigh says.

"Not you, just Laura," Stacker says, looking at me. I look up for the first time since this conversation began and meet his gaze.

Raleigh looks between them and says, "No, SHE is my co-pilot."

Stacker says, "I believe I just gave you my decision Mr. Beckett."

Laura stands. "Permission to be dismissed sir?"

Stacker looks at her and nods, "Permission granted."

Laura nods once and looks at Raleigh who's nodding no, but she turns and walks from the room.

"Laura," Raleigh tries but she doesn't even turn around to look at him.

Tears form in Laura's eyes, her dream of being a pilot being crushed. Not only that but she put Raleigh in a lot of danger; she never should've risked it. If he had gotten hurt she doesn't think she'd be able to live with herself.

She can hear Raleigh and Stacker yelling at each other and she blocks it out, holding back the tears until she gets to her room. A minute later she hears knocking and knows it's him. He knocks again and then again when she doesn't answer.

"Laura, I know you're in here, please let me in," Raleigh practically begs and Laura sighs, not being able to deny him. She wipes her face to make sure there are no tears and opens the door, not enough for his to step through, but enough they can talk face to face.

"What do you want Raleigh?"

He visibly relaxes and says, "To make sure you're alright."

She smiles a little, trying to make him think she is and says, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"That's the smile you use when you are trying to convince people you're fine, which means you're not," he says and she frowns, but doesn't say anything.

"Laura, what Chuck said, you know that's not true, right? I'm not going to just disappear again, you know that right?" Raleigh asks.

She nods; she felt that through the Drift before it broke.

"And what about the other part, I… I almost killed you," she whispers the last part.

"But you didn't, the Drift stabilized," he says.

"And what about next time, what if I get lost in a memory again?" Laura asks.

"You won't," he says.

"How do you know that, it's happened once before, it can happen again. Stacker's right, it isn't worth the risk," Laura says going to close the door but Raleigh's hand shoots out and stops it. Laura leans her head against the back of the door.

"It worked and next time will be even easier, we'll know what to expect and how to handle it. First Drifts are rough, but only the first ones," he says.

Laura squeezes her eyes shut and says, "I don't want you hurt, especially not by me."

"I know, I was in your head remember, I know a lot of things now," he says and she hears the double meaning in them. He knows how she feels about him- or at least, how she's starting to feel about him.

She opens her eyes and says, "It doesn't matter, there's no way Stacker would let me be a pilot now."

"The Drift stabilized once we got used to it, it'll be stable next time," Raleigh says.

Laura moves and opens the door all the way, surprising him slightly and she asks, "Why are you so insistent?"

He hesitates before answering, completely honest, "Ever since my brother, I never wanted to be a pilot again. When Stacker found me a few days ago and tried to convince me to come here, it took me hearing your name to convince me. When I heard you were training to be a pilot I, for the first time in five years, knew that if I was to be a pilot, the only person I would except as my co- pilot would be you. And that was even before we fought."

"Why… me?" Laura asks. Raleigh smiles slightly.

"I can't describe it, I just… know, I just… feel it. I want you as my co-pilot, on one else. I… I care about you, a lot," he answers.

She looks at him, intently hearing the last part, not knowing what to make of it. He cares about her but as a friend? A sister? Something more? But she hears the honesty in everything he's said and looks deeply into his eyes before saying, "I'll do it."

He smiles widely and runs up the steps and hugs her, lifting her briefly off her feet before setting her back down.


	11. Chapter 11

**No POV**

Laura and Raleigh are sitting on a platform looking out at Gypsy Danger.

"I'm sorry, I should've warned you. You weren't just tapping into my memories, you were tapping into my brother's too," he says.

"Don't, I remembered what you said five years ago, that your brother died while you were stilled connected. I knew I'd feel that… and I did. I just wasn't expecting to get all his other memories too, though I should have," Laura says.

Raleigh nods. "You know, you live in someone else's head for so long, the hardest part to deal with is the silence; to let someone else in, to really… connect. You have to trust them. And today the Drift was strong, well after it stabilized."

He smiles, which makes Laura smile as well. He looks down, eyebrows furrowing and Laura asks him what it is.

"When I got stuck in your memories…" he stops, trying to find a way to word it. "You had told me your past was going to be… problematic, for the Drift, but I didn't imagine it was going to be…"

"To be that bad," she finishes for him.

He looks up at her, "Yeah."

She says, "Yeah, I know, I have to be one of the most unlucky people on the planet."

He takes a deep breath and says, "Maybe, then again, you were in Alaska at the right time and place to help me, so maybe you're not so unlucky, not completely anyway."

She laughs just barely and says, "Maybe."

"Laura… I'm sorry," he says guiltily.

"About what?" she asks gently, hearing the raw emotion in his voice.

"The last memory, the one where you watched me walk away… I shouldn't have, I should've stayed," he tells her.

"No Raleigh, we had only known each other for a week, you had a life, it's not like I could've asked you to stay," Laura says.

"Yeah, but I didn't exactly want to go either, some part of me, a fairly big part wanted to stay, I just didn't know how to ask. I didn't know if you wanted me too," he admits. "I do now though and I'm sorry, the feelings of regret and sadness you had, I had those too, but I thought they were just from losing Yancy… I didn't…"

Laura scoots closer to him, touching his arm. "Hey, hey, its fine, we're here now, together and that's all that matters."

He looks up at her and she gives him a small smile, which he returns. He moves closer to her and puts his arm around her shoulders and she leans against him, using his shoulder as a pillow, wrapping one of her arms around his waist.

"Yeah… yeah," he says, resting his chin on her head.

Then an alarm sounds and they look around seeing people running everywhere and exchange a look before getting up and running to command and control, pushing past people to get to the front.

"… we have two signatures, both category fours. Codenames: Otachi and Leatherback. They'll reach Hong Kong within the hour," Tendo lists, moving back as Stacker steps forward.

"Evacuate the city, shut down the bridges, I want every single civilian in a refuge right now. Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha, I want you to front line the harbor, stay on the miracle mile. Striker I want you to stay back, look after the coastline. We cannot afford to lose you, so only engage as a final option," Stacker orders.

"Yes sir," Herc and Chuck say at the same time.

Stacker turns to Raleigh and Laura. "You two, you stay put. Let's go!"

Everyone moves about, the pilots going to their Jaegers. They are dropped into the ocean and Chuck's voice comes over through the comms.

"LOCCENT, Striker's got the bomb and are on the roll."

"LOCCENT, near position and awaiting your orders," Herc says.

"Engage at your discretion. Guys, keep your eyes open, these category fours are the biggest we've ever seen in both size and weight," Stacker says.

Cherno Alpha disengages their transport and then Crimson Typhoon.

After a minute they hear the fighting begin and watch the dots on the screen that represent the Jaegers and Kaiju.

"LOCCENT, Typhoon and Alpha are in trouble, we're moving in," Herc's voice comes over the speakers.

"You are to hold your ground, do not engage. We need you to carry that bomb. Do you copy?" Stacker orders.

There's a pause before Herc shouts, "LOCCENT we're moving in, NOW!"

Stacker turns around and paces, walking by and looking at Raleigh and Laura. They see the signal for the Crimson Typhoon and the life signs for the Wei Tang brothers fade and Laura briefly closes her eyes in respect.

"Cherno Alpha, they've hit us with some type of acid. The hull is breached, we need backup immediately!" Sasha says.

Laura bites her lip; this is not going well at all.

"Just hold on Cherno, we're on our way!" Chuck shouts.

The dot for the Striker starts moving faster when the dot for the second Kaiju appears and is right on top of Cherno Alpha. One of the Kaiju leaves the Cherno Alpha and intercepts the Striker.

"We just lost Cherno sir," Tendo says and Stacker hits the desk and mutters, "Damn it."

Laura closes her eyes and shuffles nervously, bowing her head. Raleigh sees this and takes her hand. Laura looks up at him and he gives her a small smile to reassure her everything is going to be fine and she returns it out of habit.

Then the computers and all the tech starts to go haywire before it all just turns dark.

"What's going on? What happened?" Herman asks.

"The blast, it jumbled all the Jaeger's electrical circuits," Tendo says.

"They're adapting, this definitely isn't a defense mechanism, it's a weapon," Herman concludes.

"Get me Striker," Stacker orders.

"Nothing sir. The mark five is digital, it's fried. It'll take it them two hours to reroute the auxiliary," Tendo informs him. "All the Jaegers, they're digital."

"Not all of them Marshal," Raleigh and Laura move forward. "Gypsy's analog, nuclear."

Stacker looks between us and we have a staring contest before he gives his approval.


	12. Chapter 12

**No POV**

They get suited up and Drift, nothing going wrong this time; a perfect neural handshake. Because of no time, even though its Laura's first time in a Jaeger, they don't do all the normal tests, but they know they'll be able to fight when they get to the Striker and the Kaiju.

Raleigh disengages them from the helicopters and they fall, landing perfectly in the water.

"Alright Laura, get ready, this is for real," Raleigh says and Laura looks at him before focusing back on the Kaiju.

The Kaiju runs at them, abandoning the Striker and they fight, Gypsy punching it and grabbing the EMP device from its back and throwing it behind them. Leatherback roars at them, enraged, and attacks them, picking the Gypsy off its feet and hurls them toward the evacuated city. They go through a bridge and keep sliding, going straight through all the container ships. They get on their feet and slow down using their hands. They see Leatherback running at them and they stand.

"Come on, let's do this, together!" Raleigh shouts and they start running toward the Kaiju. They jump and punch Leatherback right in the face, stunning it for a few seconds. They grab its head and start hitting it.

"Elbow rocket," Raleigh says and the A.I. says, "Elbow Rocket engaged."

"Now!" Raleigh shouts and they simultaneously bring their arm forward, the elbow rocket adding power to their punch. Leatherback staggers back and grabs a crane. It hits them with it twice and the second time they have to use the containers to steady the Gypsy before they fall. They grab two handfuls of containers and use them to hit Leatherback, slamming them on either side of its face. It roars and they hit its throat and it stumbles backward. Gypsy goes up behind it and picks it up.

"Hold on Laura," Raleigh says and they throw it. It immediately rights itself and runs at them, hitting them square on and pushing it backward. They are thrown back in their Conn-Pod harnesses and they dig their heels in, but it has no effect as Leatherback just keeps pushing them back.

"Plasma cannon, NOW!" Raleigh yells.

"Plasma cannon engaged," the A.I. says and they start firing.

"Empty the clip!" Raleigh says to Laura.

They go through another bridge and Raleigh shouts again, "Empty the clip!"

They do, taking one of Leatherback's arms off and they stop, right at the edge of the water. They throw the Kaiju onto its back and it doesn't get back up. They retract the plasma cannon and start walking away when Raleigh stops.

"Wait; I think this guy's dead, but let's check for a pulse," Raleigh says and Laura smirks, knowing what he really means.

"Ok," Laura says and they turn back to the Kaiju. They take their other plasma cannon and fire on it until there's a huge hole in its chest.

"No pulse," Raleigh says him and Laura looking at each other and they retract the plasma cannon. They turn toward the city, knowing the other Kaiju, Otachi, is there. They pick up a large ship in the water and drag it inland. They see Otachi and swing the ship up to their other hand and use it to beat the Kaiju. But after a few hits Otachi uses its tail and grabs the ship and wrenches it from their hands. Then its tail hits Gypsy's chest and Laura and Raleigh are knocked around as they fly backward, landing hard. They get up and run after the Kaiju that's, for some reason running away, but they lose it. They walk down the streets, trying to find it but it's just gone.

"We can't pinpoint it, its moving quick. Keep your eyes open," Raleigh tells Laura. He then speaks through the comms, "Choppers, do you have a visual? Over."

They step over a bridge and stop, looking around for Otachi. They hear a roar and look to their right and are hit. They crash into another building and turn around to hit the Kaiju. The second hit Otachi ducks and Gypsy's arm goes through a building. Otachi grabs them, slamming them into the building again face first and then dragging them back to push them through an entire building. Raleigh lets out a cry at the strain and Laura just grits her teeth as they throw down. They roll and get back up. Otachi opens its mouth and roars.

"Acid!" Laura yells and they step to the side as the acid hits the building behind them.

"Nice call," Raleigh compliments and Laura looks at him for less than a second before they turn back to Otachi. It opens its mouth to spray acid at them again, but they shove Gypsy's fist into its mouth, stopping it. Otachi's tail wraps around their left arm and they hold their arm away from their body as the end of Otachi's tail snaps at them.

"I'll hold it, you vent the coolant on the left side," Raleigh says and she lowers her arm and vents the coolant. In a matter of seconds the tail is frozen and Raleigh throws Gypsy's arm down, shattering the tail. They attack Otachi, grabbing its head by the horns and tear off part of its head. It lunges at them, knocking them onto their back. Its claws dig into their chest plate- or talons seeing as how it spreads wings. They are thrown around even harder than before as the Kaiju starts to fly and slams them into buildings. They try to break free, but can't as Otachi goes up higher and higher.

"Temperature is dropping, we're losing oxygen," Raleigh says as things spark all around them and they're jostled around. "Both plasma cannons are shot, we're out of options Laura."

But she remembers Mako telling her about something new they added.

"No, we're not," Laura says and taps the screen.

"Sword deployed," the A.I. says and they use it to slice into the Kaiju. They cut Otachi in half they start to fall.

"Altitude actuation, off balance. 50,000 feet…" the A.I. goes on.

"Gypsy, listen to me," Stacker tells them what to do and Raleigh and Laura purge the reactor to slow their descent, but it's not as much as they had hoped it would.

"We're coming in too fast!" Laura yells.

"I know, brace for impact!" Raleigh shouts and she does as they hit the ground.

They stand up, Laura holding her right side.

"Raleigh, you all right?" Laura asks.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. You?" He asks.

She takes a second before answering, "No."

She moves her hand to reveal blood running down the side of her armor. Raleigh's expression falls and he can feel her pain through the connection. He takes his helmet off, disengages from the harness and runs over to her. She takes her helmet off as he gets to her and he helps her sit down. He takes her armor off quickly and sees her wound.

"Ok, I've seen worse," Raleigh says. "Laura, your side has been cut by some shrapnel from when we landed. It's not too bad though, you'll be up on your feet in no time," Raleigh says and Laura nods.

They feel the Gypsy being air lifted.

"Don't worry, we'll be back to the Shatter Dome in a few minutes where you can get help," Raleigh says and Laura nods. He would tell the Shatter Dome they need a med team ready for when they arrive, but all the Shatter Dome's electronics are out for at least another hour. He also knows she's never had this big of a wound before and doesn't deal with physical pain well- well not as well as emotional pain anyway. His thoughts are proven true when he sees her eyes start to close.

"No, Laura, you need to stay awake," he says and taps her cheek. Her eyes immediately open and she blinks a few times.

"Good, that's good Laura," he encourages. "Just focus on me, keep your eyes open."

She does and he smiles at her. A few minutes later they feel the impact of the Gypsy being set down.

"You're going to have to help me," Laura says and Raleigh nods. He picks her up, setting her on her feet and puts one of her arms around his neck, helping her outside the Gypsy and to the elevator. He feels her start to go slack and she starts falling to the floor.

"Laura? Laura?" he repeats and sees she's unconscious and curses lightly. He picks her up and the doors to the elevator open. There are many, many people there cheering for them, but when they see the sight that greets them they get quiet. Raleigh, carrying Laura, moves forward and everyone parts to make a path for him. He goes to med bay where doctors meet them.

"Here, put her down over here," one doctor says, guiding him to a bed where he sets her down. He backs away as doctors surround her. Herc and Chuck arrive and Herc puts a hand on Raleigh's shoulder. The doctor's take out the shrapnel in Laura's side and bandage it and one doctor comes over to them.

"She's going to be fine, very soon in fact. The wound wasn't bad at all; she only passed out because of blood loss and the pain. She should be alright in a few days."

Raleigh exhales in relief, he was really, really scared it was going to be worse than that. When he saw she was injured his heart skipped a beat in fear. When she passed out it was even worse, thinking she might've been… He can't lose her, not her.

Raleigh moves over to her and takes her hand. Her eyes flutter open and Raleigh smiles as her eyes immediately find him.

"Hey," he says.

"Hey. What happened?" she asks.

"We were in the elevator and you passed out. I carried you to med bay," he says.

"Oh, that's a little embarrassing," Laura comments and he laughs, shaking his head.

A doctor comes over. "Hello Miss Coleman, how are you feeling? Any pain?"

Laura shakes her head. "No, I'm fine."

"That's good, take it easy though and in a few days you should be fine," the doctor says and give Laura and Raleigh a smile.

"Thanks," Laura says as the doctor moves away. She sees Herc with his arm in a sling and Chuck standing next to him.

"What happened to Herc?" Laura asks.

Raleigh looks over at Herc and Chuck. "No idea."

"That's not like you," Laura says and Raleigh looks back at her.

"I had more important things to pay attention to," Raleigh says and Laura smiles. Raleigh smiles too and Herc and Chuck join them.

"I'm happy you're alright Laura," Herc says and shakes her hand, Laura nodding. Herc moves closer to them and whispers, "Look, he'd never admit it," he looks at Chuck, "but he's grateful. We both are." Herc shakes Raleigh's hand and Raleigh looks at Chuck who's behind Herc and Chuck nods in respect, Raleigh nodding back.

"Now, there's a lot of people want to see you two," Herc says.

Laura smiles and says, "Well then, let's not keep them waiting any longer."

She sits up and Raleigh watches her wearily, just in case, as she stands. Surprising even her, she feels little to no pain. She looks at Raleigh and they walk out into the hall, where they are met by crowds of people.


	13. Chapter 13

**No POV**

Raleigh and Laura walk through the crowd, stopping when they hear their names called from behind them. They turn around to see Stacker.

"Mr. Beckett, Miss. Coleman," he says, walking toward them, the crowd makes a path for him, "In all my years fighting." He stops in front of them, "I've never… seen anything like that. Well done."

He looks around and steps forward, Laura and Raleigh stepping aside to let him pass.

"But, as harsh as it sounds, there is no time to celebrate. We lost two crews, no time to grieve," Stacker says and turns around to face Raleigh and Laura before looking above them. "Reset that clock!"

There are whispers and murmurs and Laura notices Stacker's nose is bleeding. She points to her own, Raleigh watching her and Stacker freezes. He wipes his own and finds blood and Laura and Raleigh see him take out a napkin, like he's prepared for it to happen, and he walks past them. "Reset the clock!"

Raleigh and Laura exchange a look and Raleigh goes after Stacker, Laura saying here.

Laura is in the hanger when Raleigh comes in. She meets him halfway and asks, "How's Stacker?"

"He's not good, radiation poisoning from the Mark One, terminal cancer," Raleigh says and Laura eyebrows rise in surprise and she nods.

"I know he's an old friend, how are you?" Laura asks concerned.

He nods, "I'm good, it's not like Stacker and I are exactly close."

His joke fails and Laura just smiles sadly and rubs his arm.

"Listen, Tendo picked up another two signatures, category fours," Raleigh says and Laura can hear the question.

"I'm fine, I can pilot," she says.

Raleigh looks at her intently. "You sure?"

She smiles and nods, "Yeah, positive."

Raleigh nods, sort of wishing she couldn't pilot so she could stay out of danger's way, but he also knows there's not someone else he would rather co-pilot with than her.

Then they hear someone talking rather loudly and turn their attention to them; it's Chuck, of course. "Dad's hurt so who's going to be my co-pilot?"

Tendo and Mako are about to reply when the door opens. Raleigh, Laura, Tendo, Mako and Chuck all looking at it and Stacker, suited up, walks in, Herc trailing behind him. They walk right to them and Stacker rubs his stomach saying, "I don't remember it being so tight."

Laura smiles and Stacker starts walking toward Striker Eureka, Mako following. Raleigh and Laura exchange a glance, knowing Mako is going to try to convince him not to do it and know she will fail.

"Everyone, listen up!" Stacker says and steps up onto Striker's foot. "Today… today. At the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other. Today there's not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone; not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door! And bring the fight to them! Today we are canceling the apocalypse!"

Everyone erupts into cheers, Laura and Raleigh clapping as well. They look at each other and give each other a smile and nod, telling each other this is going to work.

Stacker steps down and everyone disperses, going to do their respective jobs. Stacker looks at Raleigh and Laura and nods at each of them for a goodbye. He walks away, Chuck following and Laura and Raleigh look at each other before walking to the elevator that will take them to the Gypsy's Conn-Pod. They get inside and Raleigh turns to her.

"You know, until now I've always lived in the past or present, never thought about the future, not until now. Laura, there's a chance, a very big chance that we won't… that we won't be coming back from this. So I want you to know-"

Laura cuts him off, seeing how hard it is for him to say this. "Raleigh, it's alright, I'll be in your head in five minutes, remember?"

He exhales and says, "Yeah."

She smiles and he smiles back. The elevator door opens and they step out and get into the Conn-Pod.

"You ready?" Raleigh asks and Laura smiles, "Oh yeah."

The Conn-Pod drops and they're flown to the Breach.


	14. Chapter 14

**No POV**

"Ready to disengage transport," Raleigh says, Stacker saying the same.

"Disengaging transport," the lead helicopter pilot says.

Raleigh and Laura brace themselves for the drop, the water slowing their descent before they touch down on the ocean floor. They stand and start walking toward the Breach.

"LOCCENT, front ports sealed, ready to submerge," Stacker says, Raleigh repeating.

The Gypsy goes completely underwater and they turn the lights on to see in the dark, murky water.

"Two active still in circle formation in one quadrant. Codenames: Skunner and Raiju. Both category four," Herc informs them.

"Rodger that," Stacker says. "We hold them off to the ocean cliff; we jump, then 3000 meters to the Breach."

Chuck agrees and then asks, "How are we supposed to deliver the bomb?"

"Visibility zero, switching the instruments now," Raleigh says, hitting the panels.

"Gypsy you have movement on your right, three o'clock, three o'clock!" Herc says. Raleigh and Laura look right, but can't see anything.

"Right looks clear, I got nothing," Raleigh replies.

"Left now and moving fair, that's a scheduled record," they hear Tendo say. Laura and Raleigh look to their left.

"I don't see anything," Raleigh says.

"It's moving too fast," Laura finishes his thought for him.

"Eyes on the prize Gypsy," Chuck says. "600 meters from the drop."

They keep their eyes open and reach the drop, landing pretty well.

"400 meters and closing," Chuck says.

"Striker, bogies are stopping, twelve o'clock," Herc says over the comms. Striker stops.

"Marshal, what are you doing?" Chuck asks.

"They're stopping, why the hell would they stop?" Stacker yells.

"I don't give a damn sir, we're 300 meters from the jump," Chuck yells back.

"Something's not right," Stacker says.

"Striker the bogies aren't forward; take the leap NOW!" Herc says.

"Don't do it, don't do it; it's not going to work!" a man's voice says in the background, but Laura can hear it with her better hearing, and Raleigh is in her head so, so does he.

"Move you bastards! Blowing up the Breach it's not going to work!" Newt says, Laura recognizing the voice now.

"What do you mean, what's not going to work?" Stacker asks.

"Just because the Breach is open does not mean you're going to be able to get a bomb through," Newt says.

"The Breach genetically reads the Kaiju like a barcode at the supermarket and then let's them pass," Herman says.

"Ok so you're going to have to fool the Breach into thinking that you have the same code!" Newt finishes.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Raleigh asks.

"By making it think you are a Kaiju," Newt answers.

"You have to lock onto the Kaiju and throw it into the Breach; the throat will then read the Kaiju's genetic code and let you pass!" Herman says.

"If you don't do it the bomb will deflect of the Breach like it always has and the mission will fail!" Newt finishes.

"Alright, now that you've heard all that, Striker take the leap!" Herc shouts. "Third signature emerging from the Breach!"

"How big is it?" Stacker asks. "What category?"

"Striker," Herc says, "It's a category five, the first ever."

Raleigh and Laura see in the distance a Kaiju rise up out of the Breach, the biggest they've ever seen.

"Striker, we see him, we're right behind you about a hundred meters. We're gonna come around you're three o'clock, try and flank him. Standard two team formation, just-"

"Raleigh!" Laura yells and he stops midsentence to look at her when they're hit by Scunner.

They manage to grab onto the Kaiju and head butt it twice. It falls and they get on top of it, getting out the Chain Sword. They lift the Gypsy's arm to stab Scunner when they're hit again and Laura hears Raleigh yelling in pain.

"Raleigh?! Raleigh?!" Laura shouts.

"I'm… I'm alright," Raleigh answers and they get up, Raleigh still feeling the pain in his right arm since he was connected the Gypsy's right arm when it was torn off. Scunner is still right next to them and they take out their other Chain Sword and stab it in its head.

"Let's get this son of a bitch!" Raleigh yells and they move Scunner toward an underwater volcano. They burn the Kaiju's head, but it manages to push them away and get out of the flames. Scunner kicks at them blindly and the Gypsy fall to the ground, using the Chain word as a cane.

"Gypsy, coming up on your twelve o'clock, full speed!" Herc says and they look past Scunner to see Raiju swimming toward them fast. "Get out of the way!"

But Raleigh and Laura have a plan. At the last second they stick Gypsy's left arm in front of them, impaling Raiju. They use the Kaiju's momentum against it as Raiju just keeps going forward through their blade. They bend the Gypsy's arm and cut the Kaiju in half, killing it. They get up slowly, Gypsy in bad condition as well as Laura. Her side is throbbing, but she ignores it. She sees the Kaiju moving away.

"Raleigh," Laura says and he looks at the screen, seeing it as well.

"Both Kaiju, coming onto Striker, fair," Tendo says.

"Hold on Striker, we're coming to ya," Raleigh says.

"No, Gypsy, do not come for me, do you copy?" Stacker shouts.

"Hang on," Raleigh tries but Stacker talks over him.

"Stay back as far as you can," Stacker says.

"We can still reach you," Raleigh says, "We're coming for you."

"No Raleigh, listen to me, you know exactly what you have to do; Gypsy is nuclear, take her to the Breach," Stacker orders as Raleigh and Laura stop walking.

"I hear you sir, heading for the Breach now," Raleigh says reluctantly.

"Mako," Stacker says.

"I'm here," Mako's voice comes over the comms.

"Listen, I'm proud of you. And I'll always be there for you, you can always find me in the Drift," he says. Laura closes her eyes, knowing what they're planning. She looks at Raleigh and they share a knowing look.

"What can we do sir?" Chuck asks.

"We can clear a path, for the lady," Stacker says.

"Well my father always said, if you have the shot you take it," Chuck says, "So let's do this. It was a pleasure sir."

Raleigh and Laura exchange another glance, hearing Chuck and Stacker's last words. They know they would do the same thing if in Striker's position, they might even have to.

Then Mako's voice comes over the comms, "_I love you, teacher."_

They see the blast and stick their sword in the ground, going to one knee. The Gypsy shakes as the shockwave passes and there are sparks everywhere. It passes and they stand up, but they hear something behind them and look backward to see a wave coming at them and they get back down just in time. They're thrown around in their harnesses and things spark again. Laura takes a sharp intake of breath, feeling her stitches tear.

"Laura? Laura? How you doing?" Raleigh asks, feeling her pain through the connection.

"I'm fine," she says and nods, looking at him and he nods back.

"Systems are critical, fuel's leaking, our right leg crippled," Raleigh lists off, "Let's finish this."

Laura looks at Raleigh and nods once.

"LOCCENT, we have the Kaiju carcass. We're heading for the Breach," Raleigh says and its slow moving, the Gypsy's right leg is in very bad condition. "You guys better be right because one way or another, we're getting this thing done."

They're almost to the Breach when the category five Kaiju, Slattern, lands in front of them. They keep going, Laura knowing Raleigh has a plan.

"On my count, bring up the jets, three, two, one!" Raleigh shouts and they activate the jets. They drop the Kaiju carcass and fly at Slattern, hitting it full on. They grab onto Slattern and stab it in the back.

"Hold on!" Raleigh says and she nods. He drops his left arm and Slattern uses its tail to rip into the Gypsy's back.

"Hold on Laura, I'm going to burn this son of a bitch!" Raleigh says and hits one of the many screens. They see the light from the reactor and hear Slattern screaming before he suddenly stops and grows still. They close their eyes from the light of going through the Breach.

Laura feels the air getting thin and shakes her head. She retracts the Chain Sword and the pain in her side is worse than ever. She looks down to see blood on her armor again and mentally curses. Of course Raleigh, being connected to her, knows all this.

"Laura?" is all he says.

"It's alright," she says, but the toll of her losing some of her oxygen and the pain in her side blurs her vision. She feels herself starting to pass out and tries to fight it, but can't.

Raleigh taps the comms off, wanting to say something, but not wanting LOCCENT to hear. Laura is still just barely conscious and can hear Raleigh's next words.

"It's alright now Laura, we did it, I can finish this alone. I just have to say it out loud, that I want you to know, just in case, that I love you. I think I have ever since I first met you five years ago," he says.

He feels her pass out completely and takes the comms back on.

"Raleigh? Raleigh?" Tendo is saying.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here," Raleigh breathes, the air starting to thin now as he ejects Laura's escape pod.

"Oh thank god, listen, you don't have much time. Start the core meltdown and get out of there. Do you hear me? Get out of there now!" Tendo tells him.

Laura is ejected from the Gypsy and Raleigh hits the comm. button. "I'm initiating reactor override now."

The A.I says, "Manual Activation Required" and Raleigh groans.

"What's going on?" Herc asks back in LOCCENT.

"Trigger's offline, he has to do it by hand," Tendo answers.

"He's out of time, he has to self destruct now," Newt says to Herc.

Raleigh gets out of his harness and uses the walls to make his way to the manual trigger for the self destruct. As the Gypsy falls through the Bridge to the other side it's rocked and Raleigh loses his balance. He slips, almost falling into the gears, but manages to pull himself up and crawl to the manual override.

"Core override initiated, meltdown in T minus 60," Raleigh says, LOCCENT hearing him.

He goes back to his harness and ejects himself, about twenty seconds left until the meltdown.


	15. Chapter 15

**Laura's POV**

I'm vaguely aware of floating and the surprising part is I'm floating up, not down. Wasn't the Gypsy falling down through the Breach? No, wait… we were through the Breach and falling and my oxygen was damaged and my side starting bleeding again and Raleigh… he… I remember being lifted up, I was…

Then I remember: Raleigh put me in my escape pod and ejected me from the Gypsy. And he told me something, something so very important. He told me… he told me he loved me, he always has ever since we first met.

And he's still down there.

My escape pod hits the surface as the last of my oxygen runs out. I hit the button to open the pod, take my helmet off and inhale all the oxygen I can. I close my eyes and just try to breath slow.

"Laura? Laura? You alright?" I hear Tendo ask.

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute," I say and stop, remembering Raleigh. "Tendo, where's Raleigh?"

"He stayed behind to set the self destruct, he just ejected, he should be showing up any second now," Tendo answers.

I stand on my knees and look all around me, waiting for his pod to appear. I hear it before I see it. I turn around and see it bobbing in the ocean and I don't hesitate to dive into the water and swim over to it.

I sit on his escape pod and open it. The top flies off and take his helmet off, throwing it into the water.

"Raleigh?" I say and look for his pulse.

"LOCCENT, I can't… I can't find his pulse," I say, tears starting to come to my eyes. "Raleigh? Raleigh?"

"Laura, listen to me, it could be the sensors are not working…" I tune out the rest, having heard enough to know what Tendo is trying to say; they can't find a pulse either.

I shake my head, not willing to believe it and sit Raleigh up and hug him, squeezing my eyes shut.

"No, no, Raleigh, please, you can't be… you can't be, please Raleigh," I beg, my face pressed into his shoulder.

"Laura? Laura?" Tendo says. I ignore him, crying now and he stops.

"You're holding me too tight," I hear Raleigh whisper in my ear. I freeze and open my eyes. I loosen my grip and lean back, him doing the same. He coughs and looks up at me and smiles.

"I couldn't breathe," he says and I smile and laugh, so relieved. I'm still crying, but this time in joy and I hug him again, holding just as tight and he hugs me back. I do hug him a little less tight when he gasps for breath. I pull back and he cups my cheek. I cover his hand with my own and he smiles reassuringly that he's fine.

"Laura, Raleigh we have your position, the choppers are on their way. Just-just hang on," Tendo says.

We look up hearing the choppers and see them in the distance. Then we look back at each other.

"Are you okay? Do you copy?"

We don't answer and press our foreheads together, staring into each other's eyes.

"Uh, guys?"

I lean closer in and kiss his lips gently as the choppers fly over us. He immediately responds, filling the kiss with all the passion he can and it leaves me breathless. We put our foreheads together again, gasping for breath and I hug him again, just wanting to stay there forever. He kisses my head and hugs me to him tight, never wanting to let go either.

And we never will.


End file.
